Love and War
by Haruchin
Summary: Set between episodes 13 and 14. Aeru explores her feelings in a postpatrol moment with Neviril. Oneshot vignette. Yuri. You have been warned.


**Author's Notes:  
**This one-shot vignette of a story is set between episodes 13 and 14 of the anime series. I've not done much in the way of introducing the characters or world-elements - I'm assuming if you've found this fic, you'll know what I'm talking about.

This is my first uploaded fic here at I would love and appreciate some R&R if you're in the mood. After all, that's the only way I'll get better, right?

Enjoy.

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**Love and War**

With a hiss of air the whirling helical motors twisted, turning the force of their thrust down against the fast-approaching flight deck. The Simoun slowed, then stopped, barely a finger's breadth from the steel. Then the motors cut, and it touched down, light as a dancer. Inside the lower of the two cockpits, Sibylla Aeru grinned. It had been a textbook landing. She only hoped Neviril had noticed. Then the frustration of the last few days hit her again. The grin faded and she pushed the canopy open wide, stretching cramped muscles as she got to her feet.

"Man! Why are they doing this?" Aeru glanced back at the other half of her pair, seated above her. "What's the point? What are we all doing here?"

Neviril opened her own canopy and raised one immaculate eyebrow, pushing her hair out of her eyes as the wind caught at it. "You would rather be fighting?"

"Yes!" Aeru stopped herself with a frown. "Well, I mean, no… But I'd rather be doing _something_. It's been like this for days now: endless patrols, and not even a sniff of an enemy ship. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets. What are they _doing_?!"

Neviril started a one-sided shrug, but stopped with a wince as her muscles protested. "It's the same for all of us, Aeru. There's nothing more we can do." She climbed gingerly down the cockpit structure onto the flight deck, and headed towards the ship's hatch. "Bear with it."

With nothing left to do, Aeru was forced to follow her partner's retreating back, pouting all the way.

The _Messis_ was small. Compared to the glory of the _Arcus Prima_ it was positively miniscule. The Sibyllae had been shocked to discover that rather than enjoying the civilised single or double rooms they had been used to, they were suddenly sharing a single dormitory. Changing ships had been hard enough, but the shared quarters had seemed to add insult to injury. Aeru had taken their new sleeping arrangements with pretty good grace, even if she said so herself. She was under no illusions about their new posting. Chor Tempest had embarrassed the Defence Ministry brass, and this was their punishment. Better to accept it and move on than to constantly find something new to complain about. Not that all the Sibyllae had been so stoic about it.

Aeru watched as Neviril strode to her corner of the bunk room and drew the curtain around her bunk. The Regina hadn't been one of the vocal opponents to the downsized setup, but it was obvious that she wasn't used to such prolonged intimacy. More often than not she had found reasons to be apart from the others, and if she was in the room, the bunk's curtain would be drawn tight. Aeru sighed and dropped full length on her own bunk without so much as kicking her boots off. The patrol had been a long one, and her body ached after spending too much time in one position. She linked her hands behind her head and let her eyes drift closed. Time to enjoy the brief peace before the rest of the Chor finished their duties and came flooding in to fill the room with chatter.

Various rustlings came from behind Neviril's curtain, but stopped abruptly with the sound of an unmistakeable hiss of pain. Aeru sat bolt upright.

"Neviril?" she said softly.

There was no reply. No sound at all, in fact.

"Neviril?" Slightly louder this time. "Are you all right?"

"…fine."

"What's…"

"I'm fine. Really, Aeru."

Quiet as a cat, Aeru slid back off the bed and drew the curtain to one side. Neviril was sat hunched on the side of her bunk, one hand clutching her left shoulder.

"Pulled a muscle?"

Neviril jumped as if she had been scalded, spinning around to face her companion. "I said I was fine!"

Aeru ignored this and thumped down on the covers next to her. "Turn around, Neviril. Let me have a go at it. Don't worry, I'm not that bad at it. Gramps used to say I was pretty good."

She didn't wait for a reply, simply taking her partner by the shoulders and gently turning her to face the window. "It'd be better if you were lying down, but this'll have to do."

"You really don't have to…" Neviril started, but then Aeru began her ministrations, and the words were lost in a half-swallowed grunt of pain as the girl found the trouble spot.

"Wow. I don't think you've pulled it, but you've got knots in your shoulders the size of… I don't know what." Aeru shuffled closer along the bed, the better to bring more leverage to bear. Her thumbs worked into the large muscles of Neviril's shoulders with enough force that the girl had to brace herself against the wall with her free hand.

"It's all this patrolling that does it. When I got out I was stiff as a board too. It'll hurt at first, but stick it out. It'll make it better in the end."

Neviril didn't reply, and the two sank into silence as Aeru concentrated on the work at hand. Gradually the knots loosened, and she turned her attention to giving a wider massage, working her way in slow increments down her partner's back. Neviril's breathing slowed from quick, shallow breaths to a more even flow, and she settled forwards, cradling her head on crossed arms on the bunk's headboard.

Almost unaware what she was doing, Aeru's movements began to lighten, until the firm massage had become as gentle as a caress. Her fingertips traced patterns on Neviril's back, tracing the course of muscles toned by daily Maajon practice in the _Arcus Prima_'s pool. Her mind was no longer on what she was doing, but instead was racing back to the topic that had occupied her over the last few days. What did it really mean to be a Sibylla? The Ri Maajons that they drew in the sky were powerful, hugely powerful, and destructive. Chor Tempest alone had killed hundreds of enemy pilots, all through the vast power of the Simoun craft and the patterns they created. But at the same time there were Ri Maajons for ceremonies, for protection, for communication… And the power that drove them… the Simoun Gem itself… That was powered by the prayers of its two Sibyllae pilots.

Aeru's features drew into a scowl of concentration as her thoughts came to the crux of what had been bothering her. It was all thanks to Floe's words a day or so ago. She had said that when the two pilots _liked_ each other, the Simoun and the Ri Maajons it drew were better. Why should that be? How could that work? Floe had said that Neviril and her previous pair partner, Amuria, had _liked _each other. Was that why they had been the best pilots in the fleet? How could _like_ make that happen? What did love have to do with war?

She curled her fingers around a stray lock of Neviril's hair, sweeping it gently over her shoulder to afford better access to the middle of the girl's back. As she did so, her fingertips brushed her pair partner's neck, sending an unmistakeable shudder through the girl's body. Aeru frowned even more. If liking someone made the Ri Maajons better, should she like Neviril? Did she like Neviril? What did that even mean? Her hands ran smoothly over her partner's slim shoulders, all the way from the collarbone to the start of the biceps muscle and back, and the words came out before she even thought about them.

"Does liking each other really make it better?"

Neviril didn't reply for a moment, but after a second she spoke, her voice curiously hoarse. "…what?"

"Does liking each other make our Ri Maajons better?"

This time Neviril straightened up and turned around so fast that Aeru reflexively snatched her hands back out of harm's way.

The older girl stared into Aeru's face, her eyes wide. "What… what are you… what do you mean?"

For one frozen second, Aeru said nothing. Then she could control herself no longer, and burst into a fit of giggles. Neviril's look changed from shock to anger mixed with humiliation.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked stiffly.

Aeru shook her head. "I'm sorry, Neviril, really. It's just… Your face… and your hair… I've never seen someone clash with their own hair before!"

Neviril's hand shot up to the strands of pink hair that framed her face, then cupped her cheek. This time she looked down, blushing even redder if that was possible. "I must look like an idiot," she muttered.

"No! Not at all!" Aeru reached out on an impulse, her fingers brushing the flaming heat of the girl's cheek. "You don't look stupid, Neviril. You look..." Her voice dropped as she realised what she was doing; what she was saying. "…beautiful."

Neviril's lips parted to form a perfect "o" of surprise, and for the first time the two girls stared into each others' eyes. Neither said a word. Then slowly, so very slowly, they began to lean forward as if pulled on an invisible string. Aeru knew this would be no ordinary kiss, not like the ones they shared before they flew. But her lips tingled, and she knew she wanted to taste this new sensation.

_**CRASH!**_

The door flew open to slam back against the wall and the room was suddenly full of the cheerful clatter that announced the arrival of the rest of the Chor.

Aeru and Neviril leapt apart, their faces matching shades of red this time, both looking down and away from each other.

And as quickly as it had arrived, the moment was lost.

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End notes: This is just one chapter - a fleeting look at the two leads as they try to find out who they are and what they're about. In any case, hope you enjoyed it.


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